dialogue with doc

Nushka spoke to me through the pictures and words of the very first ad I saw for Writers Retreat Workshop. There was a silhouette of an old Victorian house and an invitation to join a small group of writers to work on my novel. When I spoke with her on the phone for the first time, I knew I'd found my home as a writer. Later, I realized I'd found a friend.

It took me years to be able to call her Nushka, rather than Gail. Yet from that first workshop, Nushka believed in me as a writer, encouraged me, listened to me, and yes, she taught me. She didn't formally teach a class, but she teaches with her presence and her life, as well as her words. Her whole being radiates love and generosity, and I feel lucky that our paths crossed all those years ago.

This was originally going to be a Facebook post letting folks know that Nushka is going to be at the May workshop. And she is. However, she is so much more important to me than a marketing tool, and I wanted to share a little bit about why.

I remember standing in a steady drizzle out in the backyard of her house in May 1995, hours after Gary's funeral. In the midst of her grief and anguish, she was trying to decide if the workshop should go on in less than a month, to give Gary's students a chance to come together. Some folks had weighed in and wanted to go, some didn't, leaving Nushka torn and dazed with confusion. Her only concern was what would be best for the students and for Gary and his memory. She had to be reminded to think about what she needed.

It was Nushka who gave me the opportunity to teach the workshop for the first time in 1998, who trusted me with Gary's material, and the curriculum he developed with so much love and sweat.

It was Nushka who kept in touch with me all those years I disappeared into the monastery, who never forgot my birthday, who sent me notes and messages.

And it was Nushka who encouraged Jason to offer me a scholarship to come back as a student to the workshop, which eventually led to me becoming director.

There have been many gifts in my life, and one of them goes by the name of Nushka. Now she will come to the workshop with a project of her own, and it will be my chance to nourish her work. All I have to do is follow her example.